periodical swarming 2016
by Chappell on our previous farm
they're everywhere! on every vertical surface, in the leaves of trees, on door jambs and window frames, just everywhere.
i watched one slowly emerge from it's shell, and thought: oh geeze, the locusts swarms are here, the year we up the ante with our production for whf. what will become of us now?
while it was fascinating to actually be able to witness the laborious process of this animal with the big red eyes cracking from it's shell and slowly rising like a cake in the oven, it was also terrifying to think of them swarming in great number to devour and destroy our food production this year. knowing that i didn't really know enough about what kind of damage they can do and how to thwart their efforts, i looked them up on the internet, where i discovered these critters are NOT locusts, but periodical cicadas, which do relatively little crop damage, but can damage the fruit and nut trees, as well as shrubs through the process of egg laying. this is because the females slit twigs of a diameter of a 1/2" or less to deposit their eggs, moving in a line down the twig, leaving several egg groupings. this occurs 10 days after the cicada brood emerges, and if you don't like the idea of a significant amount of pruning come next spring, you can net your young, susceptible fruit and nut trees with 1/4" netting. hint: we find tulle to be an inexpensive means to net small trees!
brood V will arrive in MD.OH,PA,VA,and WV this year. this brood is a 17 year cycle, and began emerging here on the farm in central west virginia 5 days ago you've got 5 days to get your trees netted. ready, set, go!
trees to protect:
Apple Trees
Arborvitae
Ash
Beech
Black Eyed Susan
Crab Apple
Cherry
Dogwood Tree
Fruit Trees in general
Grape vines
Hawthorn
Hickory
Holly
Japanese Maple
Lilacs
Magnolia
Maple
Oak
Peach Tree
Pear Tree
Raspberry vines
Rhododendron
Roses
Rose of Sharon
Spirea
Viburnum
Willow
you can watch a cicada molting in this time lapse video.
Comments
Michele
Mon, 05/16/2016 - 16:30
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Here's hoping the damage is
Chappell
Wed, 05/18/2016 - 12:38
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fortunately we farm out of
Marisa
Sun, 05/22/2016 - 09:40
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This is crazy. Did the
Chappell
Sun, 05/22/2016 - 21:23
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we think it should do the
Phil
Thu, 06/16/2016 - 12:05
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Wow! Just like Little House